They smell what you cannot

Springer Spaniel joins Maryland State Police

The Maryland State Police K-9 Unit welcomes Skye to the team to help keep Maryland safe.

Skye is a three year old Springer Spaniel who is a certified cadaver dog. Skye is currently one of only three law enforcement human remains detection dogs in Maryland and is the first cadaver dog to work for the department in two decades.

She was initially trained to detect human remains by Wynn Warren and Jan “Jay” Topoleski with the FBI, Evidence Response Team Unit, Forensic K9 Consulting before being donated to the Maryland State Police on June 24, 2017. During Skye’s transition to her new job, Warren and Topoleski were instrumental in her training leading up to certification.

Skye finished her training and became an official member of the Maryland State Police K-9 Unit on Wednesday, September 13, 2017. She is assigned to the Special Operations Command and works with Sergeant Rick Kelly, her handler. Sgt. Kelly is a 15 year veteran of the K-9 Unit who also works with Muddy, a Chocolate Labrador Retriever bomb dog who joined the ranks in 2015.

The Maryland State Police K-9 unit has been in operation for over fifty-five years. Since 1961, K-9’s have assisted law enforcement in drug detection, search and rescue missions, explosive detections and with criminal apprehensions. Currently there are 32 handlers and 41 K-9’s assigned to the Maryland State Police throughout the state. K9 Skye will be made available to allied Maryland Police agencies who could possibly utilize this resource.

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